


Effects of Cause

by Lavakwak



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Titanfall
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Depression, Loss, Other, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2018-08-03
Packaged: 2019-02-13 08:03:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 15
Words: 18,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12979692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lavakwak/pseuds/Lavakwak
Summary: The perilous story of things that became what they were never designed to be. .This story originally starts out as pure titanfall as it was created before the release of Detroit, the crossover was per request.





	1. So Soon?

Prelude…

Following several victories of the Militia over the IMC BT and Cooper still never failed to impress those they worked with. Unfortunately, as it is the nature of war, they lost some good friends. Some died, and some were captured. Today, they were on a rescue mission in hopes of bringing back those who were captured. Jack stood before BT, cleaning off some dirt that accumulated on his hull from their last mission.  
“Cooper. I have scanned the map of the location at which we are to search for any potential Militia survivors. A majority of the area is underground, we will be separated but as usual I will guide you through your helmet.” BT stated clearly.  
“Just like always BT, we’re going to uphold the mission ey buddy?” Jack patted BT’s chassis.  
“Understood Jack.”  
Suddenly the alarms that indicated titanfall preparation blared, and Jack hopped off of BT. BT knew to go to his drop zone, and Cooper equipped his helmet and embarked. “Standby for Titanfall” exclaimed a female voice and Jack and BT dropped into the atmosphere. Upon hitting the ground they were surprised, as were the other pilots and soldiers, to be met with minimal resistance from the IMC. Occasionally a group of grunts would appear, but hardly anything more.  
“Cooper, the entrance to the underground area has been located”, one of the allied pilots said. Cooper let out a sigh and disembarked from BT, “We’ll be back soon bud.” Cooper and the three other pilots grouped up and flipped on the lights on their guns as they entered the dark cave entrance, meanwhile the titans stayed back and watched over the opening. The pilots trekked deeply into the cave, and it seemed like they had walked a mile or so down before they were met with a light in the far end of the cave. “Finally…” one of the pilots sighed. As the pilots got closer to the light they were able to see that lead into a doorway. They entered cautiously, guns ready to fire if the need arose. As they turned a corner they heard a blood curling female scream come from down the hall. One of the pilots was just about to break into a sprint towards it, but Jack signaled a slow approach. Silently the pilots entered the room from which the scream was heard and they were met with a woman who was very clearly mistreated, and chained to a wall. The pilots rushed to help her, and just as they broke the chains they heard a voice from behind them, “Stop where you are.” The pilots slowly gazed at each other, then behind them. The barrel of a gun was pointed towards them, and their finger was on the trigger. All three pilots raised their arms up, “Against the wall” the man said. As the pilots turned, the man suddenly dropped and a small puddle of blood formed beneath him from. They gazed up as the thrower of the deadly object fell to his knees, “Williams!” One of the pilots exclaimed and immediately flew up to his aid. “Commander Briggs, this is Cooper. We have located pilot Williams as well as one female. Both require immediate medical attention, no other survivors.”  
The pilots and survivor slowly worked their ways back up the cave, the pilot carrying the female noticing her difficulty walking. “Whatever they did to you, we’ll fix you up. You’ll be able to walk again in no time” the pilot tried comforting her, but she did not speak. In fact, every touch or ray of light caused her to jolt, the pilots placed for her to receive trauma care as well.  
Back on the main ship the pilots and titans went through their usual post-mission routine, meanwhile Commander Briggs was behind closed doors with pilot Williams asking him about his capture and any intel he may have gotten. Jack was ordered to watch over the female, who was unconscious in one of the emergency care beds. Suddenly, from down the hall Cooper heard the muffled raised voice of Briggs and suddenly she stormed down the hall and into the room. When she entered Jack quickly stood up, “Commander, what’s-” he started but Briggs’ stare at the female clearly stated that any words would not go through to her. After a while, she turned to Jack and spoke incredibly quiet, “When she is recovered and can walk and everything seems normal. I want her put into pilot training.” Before Jack could even respond she turned and quickly exited the room, leaving Jack confused as he gazed upon the female. Who was this?


	2. System Reboot

She opened her eyes slowly, everything was blurry and she could barely make out any details of her surroundings. Everything was hazy yet she did not feel threatened, in fact she felt somewhat relaxed for the first time in… goodness… the first time in how long? How much time was she in the prison? She couldn’t remember… everything was gone. As her vision came into focus she realized she wasn’t alone in with her thoughts, someone else was in the room. She stared blankly at the white ceiling above her before gently adjusting her head in order to better see who was in her presence. He was a handsome figure about 5’8 with a well built body and clearly had the physique of a pilot. Her breathes were shallow and smooth as she scanned who stood before her and with a soft but affirmative tone she spoke, “How long…?” The man looked around and crossed his arms, “You were just about to hit 4 weeks. You sustained some pretty heavy injuries and on top of that your body was suffering malnutrition. Whatever happened to you in there, it really took its toll.” She looked back up at the ceiling and was silent in a moment of contemplation before speaking again. Through their small talk she learned the name of the pilot as well as small details about him. His name was Jack Cooper, affiliated with the Militia, and pilot of the Vanguard Class titan BT-7274. Cooper was surprised at how she took in the information. Almost as if she already had an understanding of everything he told her, but despite their chat he was not able to get a single piece of information out of her. Not even her name. 

For two months she was in physical therapy as well as mental health checkups. Likely as a result of whatever abuses the IMC put her through, her motor skills were horribly staggered  
and her coordination, especially with anything faster than a medium paced walk, was entirely broken. Jack was assigned to keep an eye on her in between missions, and during their time they would continue their little talks. Still, no matter how much he tried, his efforts to learn anything about her at all proved fruitless. When she was finally permitted by the doctors to roam out of wheelchair, Jack brought her to the titan docking station to meet BT in person. Up until then she had only heard stories of him from Jack, despite being on the same base as him. As they approached the docking station she saw a part of BT’s chassis peeking out from the corner and she gave a small grin of what Jack assumed was excitement. Upon arriving into a full view of the docks, BT turned to his pilot, “Greetings Pilot Cooper.” BT’s gaze shifted over the female. Cooper told BT he would be bringing her over, but gave no further information. As BT stared at her he also stared at the completely empty data files that his system presented him with on her. This confused BT to a great extent, he had never before witnessed an empty data file because no matter how low profile you are or had been, there was always something about you to be found. Jack took note of BT’s inexplicably long stare and the growing awkward smile on the female, he patted BT’s chassis, “Hey buddy, ya there?” BT looked at Cooper, “Forgive me Cooper. Is this the female you informed me of?” Jack nodded and then looked at the female, stepping back with his arm extended toward BT. She took the invitation and stepped towards the chassis. She gazed at the painted metal, carefully scanning it, and with delicate touch she rested her hand on BT, and slowly dragged her hand across the chassis. BT’s ocular bit very clearly followed her hand in not an unwelcoming, but a cautious manner. Jack was surprised at BT’s reaction, the titan never before had displayed this level of caution within the safety of the base. It continued on like this for several minutes before Commander Briggs suddenly entered the docking station. BT and Jack straightened up and the women turned around slightly confused.  
“I see you’re making yourself acquainted with BT” the Commander spoke firmly, yet friendly.  
The woman removed her hand from BT, “I… uh… yes… I-I suppose.”  
Sarah nodded and put on a very subtle smile, she then averted her gaze to Cooper. “Pilot Cooper, do you think she ready?”  
Jack gave a thoughtful glance towards the floor then looked back up, “Yes, but she needs a little more time to recover… it would demand more of her physical ability than she likely can give right now”  
Sarah nodded, “I need her in there as soon as possible Cooper.”  
“Yes Commander.”  
Sarah turned and walked away meanwhile the female gazed at Jack confusingly. BT, following Jack’s train of thought, turned his ocular system towards Jack in shock. This woman was hurt to a point of where walking seemed foreign to her just a few weeks ago, what ever could have possibly qualified her to become an elite pilot? The woman turned and looked at BT, surprised.


	3. Revelations?

It was a cold, and silent night at the militia base. All personnel had returned from any missions or quests they were sent on, including Cooper and BT. Something inside of her drove her towards the docking station for the titans. She climbed up to the highest catwalk and dangled her legs over the edge as she sat down, gazing at the empty yet completely filled void of space above. The window she peered out was large, and in in the distance she could spot several hundreds of stars and a few planets made out as small, bright orbs. She stared blankly as the base was silent around her, the only audible sounds being the low hum coming from the nearby generator. Despite the silence and darkness, not all were asleep or offline. BT had noticed her entrance into the docking area. His eye locked onto her as she sat, presumably unaware of his makeshift presence. BT still was confused, well as far as confusion can go for a titan, as to why he could retrieve no data on her at all. Absolutely nothing was registering in his data scan not even basics such as height, species, or hair color which were things he could see himself. BT watched silently, trying everything he could to push his data system to get something, anything, on her. Finally, BT managed to get one system to scan her for information, but it was only her vitals report. 

Report:  
Heart Rate: 49  
O2 Sat: 100%  
Resp: 10  
BP: 90/50

BT was alarmed by her vitals report, more than one aspect of her vitals was dangerously low for normal human function and yet, there was she was, completely fine. His attention suddenly relocated as he heard small amounts of noise being produced from her. Light Rhinorrhea, his systems concluded. Suddenly, his attention was drawn to her suddenly perspiring. No, not perspiring, she was crying. She quietly sat and cried to herself, and for reasons unknown to BT. BT watched as she sat like this for another hour or so, with gentle tears streaming down her face. Until finally a light came on from another sector of the base, indicating the awakening of the 3 am guard. This struck the woman’s attention and she got up with haste and made her way silently back to her quarters. 

Every day she would visit the docking station, and BT would anonymously watch over her. Every day would she come in, sit in the same spot and cry to herself silently until the 3 am guard switched on their light, in which she would promptly return to her quarters and, BT assumed, fall asleep. BT never told Jack about what would happen during the night, he had no reason to really. It stayed like that for a long, long time. Until one night when she was silently weeping, per usual, BT began to converse over their internal radios with another titan who had not gone offline due to noticing the woman. Suddenly, her tears stopped and she looked up.

I hear you titan. 

BT and the other titan turned their oculars and watched as she got up and turned to face them, eyes red and puffy. They had heard her voice clear as day, and yet their audio sensors had not picked up and frequencies indicating any spoken words. They silently watched as she walked over to BT and she whispered, “BT. I know you know that Commander Briggs wants me to be put into training for elite pilots. But…. I don’t want to… I can’t BT… I can’t” she cried. BT’s ocular focused on her gently, noticing the Northstar he was conversing with going offline in the back as an act of respect for privacy. BT spoke with the lowest volume setting possible, “Becoming an elite pilot is one of the highest honors and achievements, any doubts or fear you might have are likely to be cleared during training.” 

“BT you don’t understand… no one will… I just can’t, please BT don’t let them do this to me” she begged.

“I will do what I can.”

She gave BT a gentle smile and her face began to clear up. As she climbed back up to the catwalk BT heard her once more. “BT… why are two of the docking stations empty?” BT moved his focus to one of the empty docks, dock number 10. He gazed upon it for a moment before returning his glance to the woman, “The empty docks belong to titans and their pilots that have yet to return… MIA.” She gave a heartfelt and saddened look then gave him a gentle nod. “I will be returning to my quarters now BT. Have a good night.” BT watched in silence as she walked away, normally he would return the good wishes but how was he to address an unnamed person? BT had never come across this issue before. When she had walked down the hall and out of sight BT returned his ocular to a straight position and prepared it to go offline. Just as he closed his ocular he heard the female speak once more. 

You can call me Brix. Brix Davidson.

Noted. BT replied, still unsure of her method of communication. 

The Following Day -

Cooper was washing off BT’s chassis outside when both noticed Brix watching out from her room. Cooper waved and watched as she hesitantly returned it, “ She’s a shy one isn’t she buddy” Jack patted BT’s chassis. BT saw this as a chance to try and push for her will, “ Pilot, Brix’s shyness-.” 

Jack suddenly interrupted, “Wait… Brix? You found out her name?”

“Correct. My data storage currently correlates the name ‘Brix Davidson’ to her person.” 

“Good work BT, anything else on file for her?”

“Female.” BT replied firmly.

“Very funny BT.” 

BT marked this attempt as unsuccessful.

Later in the day Commander Briggs was informed that her name had been acquired, and had her sent in to speak with her. As she entered the Commander’s office she looked around in awe, it was decorated with pictures of pilots and their titans. She noticed in a small section that a group of about 7 pictures had been placed under the “missing” headline. What she didn’t realize was how long she had been staring.

“Mrs. Davidson. Were you married to one of those pilots?” The Commander’s voice resonated within Brix. 

“Me? Married? I-I uh no! No I’m- I… I am not married” Brix finally managed to reply. She was slightly bothered by everyone suddenly addressing her by name, she shouldn’t have shared it. 

“Forgive me for assuming it’s just you share the last name of one of the pilots missing. This one to be exact.” Briggs pulled down one of the photos and handed it to Brix. It was a male wearing a deep blue pilot’s suit, holding his helmet in the crook of his arm, his helmet bore the insignia of a Frontliner; a pilot whose job was to essentially scout and clear early enemies. Right next to him, kneeling, was a white Northstar decorated with a matching blue stripe as well as a bold serial “XI-1050” painted clearly under the ocular. They were in a setting which clearly resembled Harmony, and the pilot smiled brightly. Brix seemed to blankly stare at it, but in her head thoughts were lashing out at her.

“We originally thought they were taken to the prison our rescue team found you at, but now we’re not to sure about their whereabouts. We have some leads but nothing in detail. They went missing along with these two” Briggs handed her another picture, this one of another male pilot along with a Tone sporting a countering red color. Brix just gently nodded, “ I… hope you find them… all pilots deserve to come home.”

“We, as you know, did find pilot Williams along with you so his picture is back up in the category of not missing. Which brings me to the reason I called for you Brix. Your physique suggests you were involved in some form of physically demanding work. Fortunately we too have a job here that requires such a thing, how would you like to be a pilot Brix?”

“Commander Briggs… really I am truly honored by the offer but… I strongly decline. I understand how that may sound but trust me… I am not prepared… I am not made to meet the demands of a pilot.”

Commander Briggs did have a somewhat expression of shock, and for obvious reason. No one had ever declined an offer to become a pilot. “We can’t force you Ms. Davidson, it is your decision. I just strongly suggest you consider it. We need pilots out there… is there anything you did have in mind?”

“ I… can operate as a medic. I have all the necessary knowledge.”

“ I wasn’t aware you had a medical background. Alright then” Briggs leaned back in her chair, “ consider yourself assigned to our medical unit.”

Brix nodded gently and as she stood up she sarcastically said, “ Well Commander… considering you only recently learned my name I would say there’s a lot about me you don’t know.”

Commander gave a light chuckle, “ Careful how much you hang out with BT, his titan sarcasm is starting to rub off on you.” 

“Understood” Brix said as she closed the door behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to make sure we’re on the same page Brix is pronounced “Bree” and not bricks x) hope you guys are enjoying! It gets better!


	4. The Best Part About a Secret

By now Brix was well versed in her procedures in the medical unit. Stay in the dropship, wait for mission complete, tend to any wounded. Her injuries suffered in the prison are what kept her from being a field medic, the doctors were concerned she would invoke unwanted pain and further injury by actively being involved in the fast paced environment. In all honesty though, she knew it was the medicine they had provided for her. They didn’t tell her what it was for, she wasn't even sure if they knew what it was for. However, the medicine would wear off too quickly with the blood pumping action of the battlefield, and she couldn't carry it on her person with the small size of a field medic's bag. She never voiced her feelings about it but she hated it. She wanted to be out there actively doing something for the Militia. Not that the medical unit wasn’t important, but it was hardly in comparison to what she previously did. Not like it matters anyway. 

“Brix! Heads up we’ve got injured pilots coming in, mission complete” A man yelled as he pulled down the lever to open the dropship door. Brix nodded and grabbed her medical bag, another day another injured pilot she thought to herself. She waited on the ramp as two pilots were being rushed in. “Jack?” She yelled over the sound of the titans who were accompanying their pilots. As he came wheeled in on the gurney Brix immediately began her work by analyzing the situation. 

“What’s wrong with him?” She asked, trying to hide her distress. BT gazed into the dropship and started to explain, He was cut by the plant Anjalinium it-, “Anjalinium! Okay okay I know what to do…” she cut him off as she quickly searched through her medical bad and pulled out several vials of liquids and a syringe. BT tried starting, “Medic Davidson, Anjalinium is a plant native to this planet. It is also unfortunately not covered in our medical courses, please allow me to assist you.” Brix watched as Jack’s eyes kept closing and reopening as he faded in and out of consciousness. BT tilted his ocular in confusion as he could have sworn he heard Brix despite her obvious continued efforts to work on Jack’s status and lack of vocal manipulation, Look BT, I got this… this isn’t my first rodeo. 

“Alright Jack” Brix began to mix certain amounts of the liquids and pour them into the syringe, “ You’ll thank me for this later.” She clearly displayed obvious haste, yet careful and practiced work as she injected him with the mix. She carefully watched as he finally faded out of consciousness, making sure it wouldn’t be fatal. 

“He’ll be out for a while but he’ll be fine when he wakes back up.” She started, and BT was crouched to see Jack inside the dropship, “ Just like Lastimosa told him.” BT’s gaze sharply turned to her, yet he remained silent. She slowly looked up to BT as she grabbed onto a handle on the drop ship’s ceiling, “ We’ll get him back safely BT.” As the dropship flew away and the ship that would dock the titans back to the base landed BT thought carefully about what she had said. There was no way she could have known Captain Lastimosa. It would be impossible. 

It was only about a week later before Jack had woken up and was almost prepared to be out and about again. Brix had gone on numerous missions during that time but never came into contact with BT, he remained on the base and was pampered by the dock crew. From what Brix understood, BT received a chassis wash, detailing, a fresh layer of paint, and his ocular quality was upgraded. On Brix’s off day she decided she needed to have a word with Commander Briggs, it was urgent. As she passed the titan docks BT came up to the catwalk, “ Medic Davidson. Please allow me to properly thank you for the medical attention you gave Pilot Cooper. You demonstrated precision, expertise, as well as an extensive medical knowledge of the effects of foreign flora.” 

“Thank you BT, but really I was just doing my job.”

“Your ability to remain humble in high praise is a very positive trait. If you do not mind Medic Davidson, I would like to ask some questions in order to get a better understanding of your background and general information.”

“Well I would love to BT but I was actually heading towards Commander Brigg’s office. I had something I needed to discuss.”

“Understood medic. Perhaps another time.” Brix nodded and continued down the hall. As she stood outside the door she knocked and requested permission to enter, which was granted. 

“Good morning Brix, what brings you in today?” The commander said, giving a gentle grin.

As she took a seat Brix started to explain, “ Well… commander. I uh… I want to be switched to an active field unit. I know I’m capable and I can’t just sit idly on the dropship until pickup time - “

“Woah woah woah. You want to be out on the field of battle? Brix, at this rate why decline the possibility of being a pilot?”

“Commander, please. I cannot be a pilot, I am not seeking any work in the pilot field. I need to be a medic and I’m capable of meeting all the demands that the active field of battle for a medic requires of me… the pilots need me out there… I can even help the titans if situation calls for it…” 

Briggs look up at her from the floor, “ Brix. You seem to be an extremely knowledgeable person for someone who claims to be a nobody. I can see why the IMC wanted you, but who were you?” Brix looked away and made it clear that the answer was something that would not be disclosed. Not today. Briggs nodded and leaned back in her chair, “ Well Brix… I we can do a test and see how it goes, but you really… really need to be careful. I know they told me from your simulation training that you found difficulty in harming and especially shooting another person. I suppose that is critical to being a pilot so I can sort of understand your refusal...I can send you on the next mission to Risperia. BT and Cooper will be there as well, and by the way excellent work saving Cooper. I heard about your quick wits with the concoction. Brilliant… here’s the mission details. Report to dropship T-409 instead of M-213. I’m counting on you to stay safe Brix…”

Brix’s face was ecstatic as she took the paper and began to get up and leave, “ Don’t worry commander I won’t let you down!” Just before she could close the door she heard the commander once more, “ And Brix…” Brix poked her head back in the room, “Yes commander?”

“Protect yourself. You may not exactly have the heart to harm or shoot another person… but don’t think they won’t have the same compassion and mercy on you.”

“Understood commander.” Brix closed the door and sank down against it as she held the mission details close to her. She was absolutely ecstatic. Finally, a real taste of action and adventure. She pulled the summary down from her and glanced at its information :

Objective: Seek and destroy IMC supply line. Search and rescue possible allied captives.  
Planet: Risperia (82nd Parallel of Galaxy Serial : 81-237)  
Frontline: Rincon, J. (JI-8725), Chavez, D. (STA-0941), Peters, Z. (KM-4209)

The list went on of all the names of those who would be on the mission. There was even more to be read, and even a map on the other side, but it lacked detail. It was essentially useless. She got up and headed back to her quarters, her smile made it clear that she couldn’t be happier. 

Mission Day - 

Brix boarded her reassigned dropship, Cooper and a few other pilots were already boarded and waiting for clearance to take off. 

“Alright Brix, first active field mission. We’re confident in you, and if anything happens BT and I will be making sure you’re alright. BT informed me you normally have below average vital counts so naturally we assume average levels are high for you. “

Brix nodded and gave a gentle smile. She sat down and looked at her uniform. Her left arm displayed her medical patch clearly in red in contrast to the navy of the main cloth, compressors hugged her mid arms, her chest proudly showed her chosen personnel number “1050”, and her black gloves were thin enough to allow unrestricted use of the hands. She was nervous, but right now it was all or nothing. 

“Dropship T-409 reporting to 81-237, Risperia for mission 786-984 you are clear to initiate.” Brix looked at the cockpit of the dropship, where the piloting personnel were responding to the traffic controllers. “Understood, T-409 taking off.” There was a light rumble throughout the ship as it left the ground, and suddenly it smoothed out as they suddenly propelled forward. Brix toop a deep breath, this was it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh boy! I am so excited to see you guys are enjoying the story! Thank you guys for all your support!


	5. Under Pressure

Go, go, go! Good luck down there guys! You got this!”

The sound of countless pairs of feet hitting the ground resonated as pilots from multiple dropships jumped off their ship and onto the hard, rocky ground. “This is Captain Maldonado speaking to group Sierra Alpha Romeo - Three Seven Niner Niner. All pilots, standby for titanfall.” Brix watched in awe as a horde of the pilots set into a formation and awaited their titans. She gazed at their punctuality and swiftness,but her attention was drawn to what seemed to be fireballs raining from above and the sound of the atmosphere being broken through. The ground quaked as they hit the soil, and Brix watched as the numerous amount of titans stood up, breaking their protective domes. All kinds of titans stood before her, it amazed her to no extent, and she carefully observed as Cooper embarked BT. 

Another day another mission ‘ey buddy?

Incorrect, we are not required to complete missions daily. 

Brix laughed and suddenly BT turned towards her, was she not supposed to hear that? “ Davidson, you ready to go? We can’t have you walking, we’ve got about 14 klicks before we reach a possible contact zone.” Brix stared confusingly, but then it hit her what he was implying and she swung her medical bag over her shoulder. She took a moment to study BT’s chassis before stepping on a handle and pulling herself up. Cooper expressed his surprise as her ability to figure out how to rodeo a titan seemed to come naturally, most non-pilots struggled when it came to knowing where to place their feet and having enough strength to actually hoist themselves up. Brix looked around as the fleet of pilots and their titans as well as the other units present began heading towards the contact point. The titans were so synchronized and graceful with their pilots, and yet they presented themselves as cautious and alert simultaneously. She looked around the planet they were on. Risperia, they called it. The soil was rocky, some land masses were free floating, the hills were dark and gray, but the sky was painted a delicate purple with hints of the other planets and stars within the system. The whole scenario of the moment reminded her of something, it felt like deja vu. She felt a mix of emotions as she couldn’t place her finger on what she was remembering, but it just melted away as she focused on the harsh yet constant bobbing resulting from BT’s steps. Her sudden daydream was broken as Cooper came over her radio, “How you holding up Davidson?”

“Fine, fine. Just taking it all in.”

“First time assigned to a field unit, you’ll do great! Hell, I went on a mission once as a rifleman and came out a pilot… always interesting to see what happens.”

“Roger that Cooper” Brix held onto BT a little tighter.

 

One klick from the contact point the frontliners went ahead while all the other titans remained concealed behind a large concrete wall. All field units who were not pilots jumped down from the titans and set up a protected, but accessible hub/route to the battlefield. It was a mere minute or two before the first explosion was heard and the sound of enemy titanfalls began to rain from the heavens. All titans were embarked and rushed out onto the battlefield, and as Cooper embarked BT he spoke before closing BT’s cockpit, “Brix, don’t worry. You’ll be fine. BT and I got your back, good luck.” The cockpit then closed and BT rushed out into the direction of the battle. Brix ran ahead a few yards of the hub, watching from the bushes the action of the battlefield. Bullets and lasers sprinted across the battlefield, titans were facing off, and light infantry took cover as they sprayed waves of anti titan support. The location they were at was strange, it was entirely enclosed by mountains all 360 degrees around except the entrance that was made for the supply lines to run, but where were they taking the supplies? The scrambled yelling of titans and pilots over the radios were surprisingly not harming Brix’s focus too much, if anything it seemed as if she followed every call out perfectly in accordance with what it was applying to.   
Suddenly, a pilot was ejected from their titan. Not as an act of last resort, but by an accident. The titan was still intact, but their foe had knocked open the cockpit as the titan was hurled forward. Brix’s body reacted before she even realized what she was doing and she sprinted onto the battlefield, grasping her medical bag tightly. She slid onto her knees right to the side of the pilot, whose arm was clearly not how normal arms were supposed to look, and was bleeding slightly in their right leg. The titan had gotten back up and was holding off the foe that had ejected the pilot. As Brix worked swiftly to bandage the pilot and wrap his arm tightly she noticed out of the corner of her eye, the enemy titan redirect his focus to her and the injured pilot. She hurried her actions and wrapped the pilot as fast as she possibly could, the enemy titan knocked over the allied titan and began a hasty path towards Brix and the fellow pilot. Brix finished bandaging the pilot and helped him up. The pilot was still in a condition to operate their titan, but Brix could either send them that way towards an enemy that would surely crush them or to the medical post. By sending the pilot to the medical post they would be losing a valuable fighting force. Brix took a mere second to decide as the enemy titan charged at them before she looked at the allied pilot and told them, “Get to your titan.” The pilot hesitated as Brix took off charging back at the enemy titan, was she trying to get them killed? Nevertheless the pilot sprinted towards the titan who was restoring their ocular systems. Brix’s expression clearly showed focus as she ran right for the enemy titan. She pulled something out of her bag and tossed it at the towering giant. Suddenly the titan planted into the ground and came to a halt, proceeding to search around itself confusingly. Brix gave a slight smirk and as she swiftly climbed up the titan she yelled, “BT be ready to catch!” She gave a quick look to the injured pilot, who had made it to their titan unharmed.

BT turned towards Brix, who was rodeoing the titan and pulling out their battery. Cooper’s jaw dropped, he wasn’t aware of her capabilities and was much more impressed by the fact she didn’t even have jump jets. As she yanked out the battery she tossed it to BT, who proceeded to hand it to Cooper as he disembarked to insert it. Suddenly Brix was surrounded by a dark mist of some sort. She looked around as everything became hazy… electric smoke! She climbed down and began sprinting away, but she was barely too late as a jolt caught her. She dropped to the floor and tensed as she was being shocked, her medical bag losing all of its contents across the floor beside her. She writ in agony and could see the rest of the battlefield through the smoke that only half of her was able to escape. She had just started… she couldn’t end this all here. She broke through intense pain as she dragged herself forward, hoping to get out of the smoke. She pulled through the last stretch of smoke and finally she broke free from the grasp of bitter agony and suffering. She looked around her, everything was hazy and her vision was coming in and out of focus. Her radio was cutting into static as dozens of transmissions between pilots and their titans were coming through, and she was no longer able to distinguish them. Surrounding her were countless explosions, earth shaking titans roaming, and mobilized military forces shouting. Everything was so blurry to her, but as she gazed across the hazy battlefield she noticed something bright red and orange flickering in and out in the distance. It was far off on one of the mountains, and occasionally moved from side to side. Brix slowly hoisted herself up, her right arm almost giving out as she pushed herself off of the ground. As she got up she became dizzy, everything became blurry, and the red and orange anomaly glowed brighter. She took a moment to focus on it, and in that moment every action of the battlefield ceased to exist to her. It was just a mass of orange and red, gently swaying in either horizontal direction. She needed to get to it. She didn’t know why, but it called to her. She shook her head, and her vision cleared but with the price of the anomaly disappearing. An anti-titan shot that had missed and landed near her brought her back into focus and she regained consciousness of her surroundings. The titan that she had stolen the battery from was in the distance, in a standoff with another titan. She had to know what she had seen, but she couldn’t get to it.  
Brix turned her gaze to BT who was dropping enemy forces like they were hot, and allied forces were having no problems taking care of the rest. No pilots were sustaining injuries, she had the chance to go right now. With allied pilots in the safety of their titans, and no imminent tide of battle about to turn against them she could make a run for it. However, as she looked in a straight path towards where the anomaly had been she saw it was flooded with brawling titans and a rain of heavy weaponry. As a field medic with no titan she would not be able to just sprint across the active field without being squashed or turned into jiblets by enemy forces. She scanned her allied forces until she spotted it, a friendly Ronin on auto pilot. She broke out in a dead sprint in its direction and just for a moment, all forces seemed to just stop and focus on her as the titan willfully turned in her direction and opened up for her to embark. Once in, the titan turned and swiftly headed towards the direction in which she had seen the anomaly. Over the radio Brix was ignoring the dozens of pilots yelling and questioning her. Cooper just watched in shock as the Ronin dashed, “BT… she doesn’t have a pilot’s helmet… how… is she allowed to do that?”  
“Negative.”


	6. Bioshock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betrayed and left behind...

Her heart was racing, blood was pumping, and mind was all over the place as she realized what was happening. She was in a titan, most importantly it was actually obeying her! She didn’t understand why… it shouldn’t be possible, she was no pilot and she had no helmet. The whole scenario started to overwhelm her, she was feeling dizzy and her heart was beating rapidly, but there was something else. She looked out to the distance, the Ronin was dashing right to where she had wanted him to go, but it wasn’t there. As the mountain got closer and closer her heart beated faster, and she realized something very important. The doctors had prescribed her a different medication in order to accommodate her change of role into an active field medic. This medication was able to withstand the requirements of the battlefield as it was absorbed fully rather than a remain in the bloodstream style medication. However, the last time she took it was when she had awoken which was 0430… it was 1642 now and she was way overdue for another dose. She reached for her medical bag and dug into it, and she turned cold when she realized her medication was one of the many objects to fall out of her bag when she was caught in the electric smoke. She frantically continued to search through her bag with some hope that the bottle of medication would magically reappear, but it never did. It was gone. However, to her luck one half of a pill had gotten caught in a crease on the bottom of the bag. Slightly relieved, she pulled it out. Her prescription called for two pills for one dose, but this would have to suffice for now. She quickly took it and minutes later her dizziness ceased to exist. The timing couldn’t have been better either, the titan slid to a halt and opened the cockpit.  
Brix squinted as the light from outside blared onto her face, she put her hand out to shade her eyes. She jumped down and turned towards the titan as it closed its cockpit and gazed intently down at her, awaiting instruction, “Go back to your pilot. I’ll take it from here.” The Ronin was still for some time, gentle whirring and occasional explosions in the far distance were the only sounds that filled the air. Until finally the Ronin nodded, “Understood” and dashed back towards the battlefield. Brix watched only for a second before she turned around and looked at the large mountain that towered before her. Whatever she had seen, it was here, but it wasn’t. Silence was prominent here, with the titan gone all that remained were the sounds of battle far off in the distance. Brix’s radio was dead, she had thought these were designed for cross planet communication but perhaps she was equipped with a faulty one. She strolled down alongside the mountain when she came across a small opening. She had to get down and crawl through it, even then she barely fit. Something seemed familiar, she couldn’t put her finger on it but the feeling was definitely there. Suddenly the small opening came to a halt, but as she looked up she saw it opened upwards into a room. Her breathe was loud against the dead silence of the atmosphere, not even the sounds of battle reached her now.   
She poked her head up through the opening and looked around, it was a dark room filled with equipment unknown to her. She was becoming very uneasy, and once she returned to her allies she would definitely be reporting this. As she pulled herself up into the room, she went around looking at what specifically scattered it. There were numerous tools throughout the room, in the center there was a slab of stone, and the room itself was dirty, dark, and seemed as if it had not been touched in a while. The darkness was what concerned her, it was being interrupted by an active source of light that was flashing red in one of the corners. She didn’t know if she should approach it, so she distracted herself by exploring the rest of the room. She looked up, dark panels were along the upper half of one of the walls but not any of the others. They were reflecting the red light, she couldn’t ignore it. She turned around and walked towards it slowly, as she got closer she realized the corner was an opening into another room. Carefully, the turned her head around the corner, it was safe. She walked down a few steps and looked before her in shock. The source of the blinking red light was a dead titan. Moreso, it was the one that was listed as missing on Brigg’s wall, it was the Northstar.   
Brix was mortified, her heart was racing. Before her stood a fallen titan, and no sign of a pilot. She managed to pull herself together enough to approach it. The body was in ruins, the paint was faded, and marks of an obvious struggle were scattered across the titan’s frame. The blinking red light was coming from inside of the cockpit, it was indicating low power. She looked into the battery storage and saw one battery left, down to its last two dots. Something caught her eye, the data core was missing and as she looked around her she noticed a gun was just a few feet from the titan. It was just a small pistol, and it caused large confusion for Brix. This was not a vanguard class titan, it shouldn’t and couldn’t have been equipped with a sere kit. However, the frontliners were equipped with a similarly styled escape kit so Brix took into consideration perhaps the pilot did escape with last resort measures, but the gun a few feet away said otherwise. She picked up the gun and placed it into her utility belt loop, she would take it to the commander as a memento of the fallen titan. So much information was conflicting with any theories Brix could formulate. The gun was right here, but the data core and knife were gone. Reasonably, the pilot would have needed the gun to escape, but it was here. If he was captured he would have followed frontliner protocol and broken the data knife which was specially attuned to him and the Northstar, by breaking it coordinates would have been sent to the commander allowing for a rescue mission. Brix was becoming sick, her half dose of medicine was wearing off. She had to get back to the battlefield, without a doubt would she be in trouble for titan jacking and running off on her own, but she couldn’t be out anywhere without her medicine. In reality, it was already too late, she had gone too long without a proper dose of her medication. As Brix took the steps back up to the original room, she fainted.  
Brix opened her eyes slowly, her vision was coming into focus. She looked around, everything was as it was before, she had to get back out before she wouldn’t be able to wake up again. She pushed herself up and pain took the front half of her body. Must have been from her fall. As she slowly made her way to the small opening Brix heard a chuckle and she froze. When she finally gained the courage she turned around swiftly, but no one was behind her. She frantically looked around, “W-Who’s there?” She called out quietly but boldly. In the upper corner of her vision the orange and red anomaly had returned and was flickering, but when she turned up to look at the black panels where it theoretically should have been, nothing was there. Brix was getting dizzy again, she needed to get out of here. She put her hand up to her head in a naive attempt to stabilize herself.

“Davidson hmm? I see you took his name” A voice said harshly. Brix was extremely uneasy, and utterly terrified at this rate. No one was in the room with her, the voice was coming out of nowhere, but she had to play off her fear.   
“I didn’t take anything. Davidson is my name… who are you? Show yourself!”  
The voice chuckled, it was really obvious that she was afraid.   
“Who am I? I think the question is, who are you? It’s very clear that you don’t know.”

Brix was horrified, they were right. They probably knew more about her than she knew about herself. She looked around, everything seemed familiar. No, everything was familiar. She looked off into the corner which lead to the room where the titan was and in the corner of her vision the red and orange anomaly was becoming more intense. Tears began to stream down and burn her face. The voice let out a sinister laugh and spoke deeply, “You never questioned anything, so obedient. I guess that’s reasonable. I hope you know that I always hated you.” Brix’s fear slipped from her mind, she rose her head slowly.

Audio Source: Enabled  
Audio Recognition: Enabling… 95%... 100%   
Audio Recognition: Online

Brix became frantic, “You...you’re alive? Why didn’t you go back. Why didn’t you tell them what had happened here. You had everything you needed to continue-”

“ So stupid. Perhaps… this will help clear your head.”

Brix’s surroundings changed right before her. The room she stood in took on a lighter version of itself, and down the stairs in the corner extraordinarily loud bangs were causing the room she was in to tremble. She walked towards it, but stopped right before the descent. She couldn’t see it all, but she could see enough. The Northstar was chained, and trying desperately to break free. An IMC titan approached it, and knocked the Northstar down so easily it seemed to be without a shred of apparent resistance. The pilot of the titan exited the cockpit while the titan held down the Northstar. 

AI System: Rebooting… 

Pilot Davidson hopped out of the Northstar in surrender and murmured something to it that Brix could not hear, but the tone sounded solemn. The Northstar looked upon its pilot who stood atop it with no gleam of hope for escape, almost conveying a feeling of fear before opening a compartment that held the knife and gun. Davidson took them and pondered them for some time, before tossing the gun aside and jumping off to face the titan, the enemy titan took this opportunity to lift the Northstar back up to its feet. “You’ll understand one day,” he told the Northstar before the enemy titan forcibly ripped out its data core in an explosion of events and light from broken circuits. Brix fell back in horror as the Northstar fell to it’s mechanical knees, any sign of makeshift life fading. The IMC pilot was handed the core by their titan, and handed it off to Davidson who was chuckling lightly. Brix shuffled backwards as her emotions overcame her, the vision was fading out and the world was returning to her time. Brix woke up on the stairs, her feelings of anger, sadness, and utter shock still lingered. 

AI System: 90%...95%

Brix picked herself up and slowly walked back into the main room, she was overcome with...something. “Why?” She implored, her voice was dead and cold. “The Militia trusted you. They all trusted you. You betrayed them all…. You betrayed me” Brix hissed. 

“Did you really expect the IMC to sacrifice one of their own titans? You were never fit to-” He was rambling on. Brix had tuned him out, she had come to one conclusion. 

AI System: Rebooted… Online  
Data Storage: Accessed  
Thermal Scanners: Starting up… Online

Brix didn’t look up. She didn’t need to. The red and orange light glared vividly in her peripheral vision. Brix’s face was hot with a some sort of internal anger, but all she did was show an expression void of emotion. He was still talking, but she was not having it. Brix interrupted with a cold voice, “You betrayed me. I died trying to protect you, and you betrayed me.” Everything made sense to Brix now. Why she chose Davidson as her name, why she chose 1050 as her field number, why she had sudden background in certain fields, why she could overhear the voices of titans and their pilots, everything just made sense. The reason she was able to control the Ronin, every titan has an underlying mission to rescue any and all they can. It must have recognized what Brix wasn’t able to under the effects of the medication. She now understood what the medication was, but she knew that the doctors didn’t know. They prescribed it on the basis that it would suppress her memory of being held and tortured here at the IMC lab. How were they supposed to expect what she was and how it would affect her? Everything made sense. Except for one thing, why? She didn’t know why Davidson had done it, she had some clue but she didn’t know if that was truly the reason. She wouldn’t ever know now. In a blink of an eye, before she even realized what she herself was doing she drew the gun from her utility belt. 

Object > Smart Pistol > Status : Loaded

Her accuracy was practically perfect, just as quickly as she drew the pistol from her belt was equivalent to how quickly she had aimed up at the thermal image and pulled the trigger. She watched as the thermal image dropped down and began to run cold. In the moment she felt nothing, it was another kill, nothing more. Then it hit her, and she understood. She understood what truly was separating her from being nothing more than a titan with a unique chassis. She understood that she… she was feeling.

Brix’s mapping system showed her the way up to reach pilot Davidson. She stopped at the doorway and peered in. His body was absolutely lifeless in a way Brix was never able to process before. Before it was just her mission… a kill… so what, but now… she was afraid, she understood pain. She took his insignia and took off his bag, inside it was the data knife… her data knife. Brix didn’t know where the core was, and frankly she didn’t want to know where it was. All that mattered now was that Brix had killed a militia pilot, and nothing screams suspicious more than a mysterious woman with no name come in and murder a friendly on a first field mission. She took off her radio and headset, they were no use now. They wouldn’t understand why she had done it, and Brix would make sure that they never would. She broke the data knife and for a moment listened to the beeping it emitted indicating the coordinates were being sent out, and then she ran.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was so difficult to write x) I hope you guys enjoyed it, its the most critical chapter


	7. Not Time to Lose Focus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brix experiences more of what it means to be a human, especially that it isn’t always pleasant.

It had been months, but anything is possible when you are a human that contains one of the most advanced artificial intelligence systems ever seen before. Risperia was an empty planet for the most part - aside from whatever secret IMC installations were present, and one human civilization on the opposite side of the planet. For Brix, it was all jungle and survival. She needed food and water to preserve her human chassis, but to her advantage things such as social interaction were somewhat unnecessary. So she just kept going, no destination in particular, but forward was good enough.

“BT, what happened here?” BT was viewing the room through Cooper’s helmet, and Pilot Davidson’s corpse was clear as day to him. The Militia had received the broken knife’s coordinates as soon as Brix had broken it, but the recovery mission was postponed when it showed Pilot Davidson KIA on top of a surprise IMC attack.  
“Cooper, this corpse suggests that Pilot Davidson was killed due to a fatal headshot wound approximately three months ago. However XI-1050 had been deactivated two months prior,” BT spoke plainly. “Three months ago… BT wasn’t that around the time we landed here? Scan for human prints, how many were here?” BT scanned the floor that lead to Davidson, but was confusingly left with the conclusion that he was the only human present at the time, and the gunshot wound was clearly not self inflicted. Once he relayed this to Jack, Jack was just as confused. “Well scan the titan, if we can’t figure out what exactly happened to Davidson maybe knowing what happened to his titan will help.” BT proceeded, but immediately stopped. His reconstruction of the titan’s traces presented him with two timelines: a human’s tracks, and the tracks of the Northstar. He brushed off the human tracks as lag within his system, but still reported it to Jack to uphold his earlier request. “Cooper, my systems have just detected human traces in that stairwell, they were created around the time of Davidson’s death.” Jack nodded, “Stream the path to my helmet. You go ahead and follow the tracks, I’ll grab the ship.” BT acknowledged his order and brought his attention back to his physical self which was outside.

Brix looked up at the night sky, her mapping system charted and presented on each star she looked at. She had never really thought about it before but now that she really had a conscious of some sort, they were beautiful. This had been the first time that she had truly reflected on what she was. Sure, she understood that she was essentially a robot gone human, but she was more than that. Her systems could outsmart any human any day. She was sort of like… an advanced human. She chuckled at the thought, no other human could amount to her. Suddenly she half snapped out of her thinking train, the stars were becoming ever so slightly blurry. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough for a highly trained system to recognize. It was pulsating, they’d come in and out of focus with a sort of constant interval. It wasn’t long after she snapped out of her trance that the realization hit her, footsteps… big footsteps. She picked up her bag and ran. Not entirely thinking about where she was going, by not thinking everything through, or thinking irrationally, it made her human in every sense of the word. The footsteps were approaching her faster than she could run, and she knew who it was too. If she were to be caught, everything would be over. Suddenly, a branch caught her foot and she felt forward flat on the ground. The fall disoriented her momentarily, but she managed to push herself back up. Her systems calculated the distance of the source of the footsteps, and the approximate approach rate; it was not enough time to flee, she knew what she had to do. When the steps stopped behind her she froze, and remained turned away from their source. She gazed into the forest ahead of her as she heard the sound of gentle whirring endlessly playing behind her.

“I know what you’re thinking… but let me make one thing clear; you don’t know the first thing about who i am or why i did it. I used to be just like you BT,” she lowered her gaze. She paused momentarily before turning around to face BT. “You may have all of the knowledge in the world, but there are things you don’t understand BT,” she sighed, BT couldn’t understand. “What you think you know is nothing but a wave in the ocean” Brix said firmly. BT’s ocular snapped at her, Brix knew she had planted something more. “I have orders to take anyone involved alive, if possible. You will be coming with me and Cooper. Brix was startled by the sound of a dropship right on top of them as it came down to land. Fear struck her for the first time as Cooper came out of the cockpit. “Brix?.... I don’t understand…” Cooper was visibly confused. BT looked at Cooper, “The prints from the location of Pilot Davidson’s death lead to her, Cooper.” Before Brix knew it, she was handcuffed and sitting in the dropship. She was scared for what was to come, but she had to hold out.


	8. Ch-Ch-Changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the D:BH and TTF crossover begins here! Brix's situation changes as do those who are aware of what she truly is. However, this brings about more perilous information and problems.

“We send you on your first ever field mission, you hijack a titan, disappear off of our maps, Pilot Davidson is found dead within the same frame of your time and location, you run off for months, and now you’re trying to give me the orders?” Commander Briggs spoke firmly.

“Yes, I killed Pilot Davidson, but… he killed me first, you know this I have told you time and time again.” Brix’s words came out harshly.  
Commander Briggs sat down and shot Brix a severe and impassive glance. Here it comes…. Brix thought to herself.

“Brix, I have heard your story but it’s just… if the IMC has a way to do it to this extent it’s just…. well let’s just say people are not going to like what that implies.”

“It doesn’t matter what people like or do not like it’s about the truth.”

“That’s enough Brix,” Briggs snapped. She took in a deep breathe and pinched the bridge of her nose, “Brix… when we first found you, scans showed anomalies that are not present in humans. We didn’t know what you were but we had some idea because the anomalies were similar to the ones present in simulacrums. We just assumed you were some tweaked human, that’s why I wanted you assigned to be a pilot. Based on what you’ve told me and what I’ve seen, you’re inhabiting someone else’s body. They themselves are not alive anymore because the IMC had to put you somewhere…”

There was a long pause. Brix didn’t know what to think, it never really occurred to her that someone had to die for her to be in this body. The shock of being a human hoarded most of her thoughts this entire time, so the method of getting her to her current state was never brought up. Briggs understood the impact of the words she had just told Brix. Brix had told Briggs who she truly was, while Briggs was obviously hesitant to believe at first, she remembered BT had reported her mentioning things that would have been impossible to know unless Brix’s story was true. 

After a long period of silence Briggs spoke up once more, “ Brix, this… I just don’t think this can work. Your intelligence system was not designed to be implemented into a human. The IMC may have found a way to force it to work, but that doesn’t mean it’s stable. So you may feel fine now, but sooner or later your system is bound to violently fail. It won’t help that you would be able to actually feel it now. This isn’t like a simulacrum, their procedure to transfer consciousness is articulate and many steps must be taken, along with placing them in a proper chassis. The IMC was careless with you, they quite literally just shoved you into a chassis that is not even close to being compatible with your system.”

Fear struck Brix’s eyes, and she began to shake. Before, she had only understood as a concept; as something that just happened. But now she understood it as an experience, as something that she could feel happen to her, and she was terrified. “I…I…” Brix looked down. “You what Brix?” Briggs replied gently. Brix snapped her gaze right towards Briggs, her eyes showing signs of tears,” ….I don’t want to die.” 

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

The following week Brix was preparing a suitcase full of necessities for travel. Clothes, toiletries, and whatnot, but some extra things as well. After coming to the definitive conclusion that Brix was, in fact, XI-1050’s consciousness, Commander Briggs authorized her to become a pilot, but with one twist. She did not have a titan of her own, and that was per Brix’s own request with obvious reasons backing her request up. She would instead fight titanless of the battlefield, and utilize any available titan if the situation required since she was able to connect to any of them. Being a pilot granted her a jumpkit, and it would have allowed her a helmet as well if it weren’t for the fact that she didn’t need one. Brix also packed a utility belt that wrapped around her waist and right thigh. It had a pocket that was able to hold her data knife. After the whole deal with Davidson was cleared, Commander Briggs had Brix’s data knife repaired and returned to her. 

Brix’s mission was simple, the easiest one she had ever been assigned. Commander Briggs explained to her that a corporation on the planet Earth was designing and manufacturing beings that closely resembled Brix’s situation; human looking, but artificial intelligence. If they were to have any hope of getting Brix’s consciousness back into a chassis that was actually capable of handling her system without damaging it, Cyberlife would have to be it. Brix was to simply get into the Cyberlife tower, located in Detroit, and speak with anyone in charge then hope they could help. Perhaps even shed some light on who Brix was inhabiting.

Brix had never been to Earth, in fact she had never even been to the quadrant the Milky Way was located in. They had to have a precise and discrete method of getting Brix onto Earth, according to the Militia’s sources, Earth had not yet reached the level of technological advancement that Brix was used to. Artificial intelligence was decently advanced, but dropships, jumpkits, smart pistols, data knives, or literally anything related to pilots? Not a chance. Fortunately the titans would be more believable to whoever was in charge of Cyberlife, after all one could essentially describe them as the androids they had on Earth but bigger and more… tactically proficient. Once they got within a noticeable range of Earth the discrete phase was a go. Essentially a drop and go mission, Brix was put in a pod that was not only invisible to the naked eye, but also to radar. With a well timed drop Brix’s pod was set to land into a body of water which held the border of Canada and the United States of America. The splash was a little loud, but fortunately it was late and no one appeared to be around. Brix swam to shore, she didn’t mind being completely drenched. In fact, she very much liked being in water now that she could truly feel it. However, she did realize that a woman walking around drenched was probably not normal here so she improvised and used the fire from her jump kit, as well as vigorously shaking her clothing articles to dry off as much as possible. 

As she walked into the city she realized that she stood out a lot. From the people she could see, no one was in any military wear with fancy gadgets, or jumpsuits at all. How could she have known? Her entire existence confined her to pretty much only seeing military personnel and pilots. She pulled up her HUD and watched her minimap in her peripheral vision, the tower was sort of far. The militia did have a contact here that she could stay with, that’s how they got their information. She recalculated her route to accommodate the change in destination. As she turned a corner she noticed a figure standing roughly twenty feet away from her, standing in the darkness. She stopped in her tracks and enabled her night vision, trying to make out who or what stood before her. She couldn’t see any facial details or anything, but she saw enough; an IMC logo. She took a few steps backwards before turning around and breaking out in a dead sprint knowing fully well that whoever it was, was going to be right behind her. This would be her first encounter while equipped with pilot gear, and hopefully it wouldn’t be her last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy the crossover to come, it was a recommendation and I chose to accept it! If you have anything you would like to see, feel free to message me! :)


	9. Get Them Before They're...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brix's encounter with the IMC personnel complicates things in more ways than one, but nothing a little off planet tech can't handle.

For the first time she was experiencing a fight or flight response. Sure she had been out on the field and in dangerous situations before, but she was doing her job and was protecting her allies as she always had. It was different this time. This time she was protecting herself, by herself. This time, there was no software or medication suppressing or inhibiting fear or adrenaline. She glanced behind her, the man was still chasing her, but she noticed something else too… a gun. He was carrying a gun, which left Brix at a disadvantage. She had packed the smart pistol away in her luggage, which was sent to her point of contact here on Earth a day before her. As Brix turned a corner she stumbled over a crack in the concrete. Fortunately, her processors were advanced enough to process events in a fraction of a second and she rolled to compensate for her lost footing. The IMC soldier took this opportunity to fire a shot. Brix listened as the sound of the gun echoed throughout the alley, and a sudden pain struck her left leg. The initial shock of the biggest pain she had ever felt in her life momentarily kept her in place, but it was nothing that adrenaline couldn’t override. She crawled back on the her feet before continuing to run as fast as she possibly could, the pain of her wound being almost entirely numbed. As she ran straight into a dark alley, her night sensors detected a gate was ahead. All this time she had completely forgotten she was outfitted with a jumpkit, which would have been a lot more helpful earlier. However, in a scenario like this, any time is a good time to help. She ran dead ahead towards the gate before stepping up on a crate that was on the floor to get her initial jump, and then activated the jumpkit to allow her on the wall to clear the fence. Time seemed to slow as she was wall riding against the cold brick wall. Her right hand, which was following behind the rest of her, dragged her fingertips across each crevice and dip in the brick wall. The cold Detroit air rushed against her face and pushed her hair behind her. As she jumped down her audio sensor detected something, but it was too late to turn around by the time she had done her recovery roll right into a street. She was lucky cars had not been on the street at the time, but the reason for that was less than enjoyable. Two police cars and one civilian vehicle were road blocking, one officer had the IMC soldier in cuffs. Her audio senor was picking up the wailing of the sirens. She looked back into the alleyway, she must have lost him in the darkness and he wandered right into the cops who must have been called by a civilian hearing the gunshot. 

The police drew their guns and aimed them at Brix, as she stood up she faltered slightly as a result of the adrenal numbing of her wound slowly fading. As Brix raised her hands in the air two police officers came and dragged her towards the three vehicles. They put her down on her knees, and made sure her hands were kept behind her head. Out of the civilian vehicle stepped two men; one older looking man who seemed less than dressed for the occasion, and a younger looking gentleman wearing a more formal getup. Brix took note of the younger man’s jacket, it had a blue armband with a triangle of the same design up front with a serial right under it. Based on Brix’s knowledge of painting a serial on titans, she concluded that this man must be one of the androids. Her thoughts were suddenly taken by a searing pain coming from her bullet wound, as a result she let out a cry of pain. The android stopped in his tracks, and turned towards Brix which enabled her to see that he had an LED. As it turned from yellow to blue he changed his direction away from the officers, and began walking towards Brix. By her side he knelt down and looked down at her calf, which was slightly obscured by the rest of her leg. In a mix between a statement and a question he said, “He shot you,” to which Brix simply nodded. The android swiftly stood up and announced to the other personnel that she was wounded and needed immediate medical attention. As a few officers scrambled to summon medical personnel the android knelt back down next to Brix and looked at her curiously and confusingly. Brix knew he was confused. There were definitely a lot of things for him to be confused about. Mostly the fact that she had some foreign devices strapped around her waist and some weird man tried to kill her. He had questions, and she knew it. Suddenly, to add on to the chaos, a man burst through the crowd of police and went straight to Brix. 

“There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” The man said with very clear enthusiasm as he too kneeled on the other side of Brix. “Excuse me,” the android said as he stood up, “but who are you? I do not believe you have authorization to be here.” The man sighed and stood up to face the android, “...well I think the question is who are you because I have full authorization to be here.” 

“My name is Connor. I am an android sent by Cyberlife. I serve as an investigative android.”

“Well Connor I am with the FBI and I am here to take this woman because she is a part of one of my cases.”

“Ignoring the fact that, that would not change anything regardless this woman needs medical attention before she is taken in for questioning. Whether or not the questioning be at the Detroit City Police Department or a facility for FBI questioning.”

“I see well tell me this, “ the man subtly dropped something onto Brix’s lap as he wrapped his arm around the android and turned him to face away from Brix. It was a cloaking device along with the key to her handcuffs. Brix knew what to do. “Okay uh… Connor, if I say ‘this sentence is false’ what do you make of that?”

“Sir my programming is advanced enough to glaze over paradoxes. While I do appreciate the attempt to… test my program, we have a more important matter at hand.”

“Fine,” the man shrugged, “ have it your way.” He released his arm from around Connor’s neck, allowing Connor turn around to face Brix, but she wasn’t there; and by the time he turned back to face the man, neither was he. “LIEUTENANT!”

Brix heard the shout from the other side of the building that separated the two parties as she undid her handcuffs. When she looked up the man that had allowed her escape was smiling before her. “It is a pleasure to finally meet you Brix Davidson. I-I’m Pilot Thompson, but you can call me MacCready. I’m your point of contact.” MacCready gave Brix the biggest smile she had ever seen as he stuck out his right hand, offering a handshake. Before Brix could even reach his hand halfway, he withdrew it and quietly exclaimed, “Oh! Right you need medical attention. Alright well here let me pick you up, I have supplies back at my house, you can call it the base haha. Don’t worry it’s not too far from here.” 

As they headed back to Thompson’s operations location, Brix heard sirens go off like crazy on the other side of the buildings they were on. Obviously the hunt was on for them, this would make accomplishing her mission a lot harder.


	10. A New Message In Your Private Terminal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brix and Pilot Thompson go over critical information about Brix's mission, but it's suddenly put to a halt by a certain duo.

As they entered the house, Pilot Thompson gently put Brix on a couch. He momentarily rummaged through a bag until he pulled out a stim, then carefully injected it near Brix’s wound. 

“That’ll heal shortly. Your outfit is really bloodied, I put your bag in that room over there. Go ahead and change, I’ll take care of washing your suit.” Thompson smiled. Brix nodded and got up, her leg giving no trouble. She changed into a simple outfit, a pair of sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt. When she stepped back out into the main room, her jumpsuit draped over her arm, Pilot Thompson wasn’t there. She saw the kitchen light was on so she figured she’d wait for him to come back out. She sat on the couch, her eyes and thoughts drifting blankly. It was quiet here surprisingly, despite the rainstorm that was beginning to pick up outside. She enhanced her audio receiver ever so slightly so she could hear the rain a bit more, and she closed her eyes. It had been almost a day since she had slept, it was nice she could finally wind down even if it was just a little bit. She felt her head slowly drift downwards as she slowly fell asleep, the rain outside gently picking up pace and traces of thunder adding itself to the symphony of nature. 

“KIELBASA!” Brix jolted awake and was momentarily dazed by the sudden awakening, until she finally was able to focus on Pilot Thompson, who was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. In his hand he, indeed, was holding a plate of kielbasa and rice. “Oh my gosh I didn’t know you were asleep I’m so sorry!” 

“No, no it’s alright I was just… resting my eyes.” Brix laughed gently.

“Well I made you this, I’m not entirely sure how good my cooking is but I did cook once for Commander Briggs and she’s still alive sooo…. Oh here let me take that.” He gently placed the plate on Brix’s lap and traded it for her jumpsuit. As he walked away Brix began to eat the food he had presented her with. It was only a couple of minutes before he came back, “Brix I’m gonna go out on a limb here and assume you packed a smart pistol.” Brix just nodded, and gave him a look that clearly showed that he had her undivided attention.

“Okay well if you didn’t notice from the whole thing with the IMC soldier, you can’t just carry guns around this city. Especially not use them. Hell, your data knife is a big stretch, but we can hide that easier than a gun. I know bringing a knife to a gunfight is a huge disadvantage, so I took the liberty to get you a couple of things. These aren’t commissioned by the militia but they’ll definitely help you.” Thompson pulled out a box, as well as two incredibly small objects. From the first box he pulled out a grapple hook, Brix gently lifted it and inspected it. “It’s no jumpkit, but it won’t raise suspicion quite like the jumpkit either. It just wraps under your wrist and can easily be hidden under a jacket.” It wasn’t long before he was carefully handling the other two items and giving them to Brix. “I took the time to put these together myself for you. I know your database only has the location of your objective because this isn’t supposed to be a planet of operation for you… or your titan… version…. Of you…. So… um, you….anyway, these data chips contain maps of the entire city. Streets, walkways, buildings, you name it. As well as general laws and rules. I had hoped it would help you navigate being here on Earth.” Brix was fascinated, she looked up from the data chips at Thompson, “Thank you.” She gave him a soft but genuine smile, and he could tell it was grateful. As he stood up he spoke once more, “Oh um you do know that the room you changed in is your room, right? Y-You don’t have to sleep on the couch.” Brix looked towards the room, she didn’t say it but her mouth clearly formed an “Oh.” Thompson just nodded and went to his room, assumingly to retire for the night. 

Brix got up and walked into her room, she set up the data chips so that their information would be extracted overnight. As she laid down she was disrupted by an incoming call, it was hard not to notice the alert over her HUD. 

“BT?” She answered it, curious as the what the titan needed.

“XI-1050, I wish to acquire your status.” BT spoke formally and plainly.

“BT for the last time, you don’t need to call me that… and do you mean to tell me you called me for the pure reason of asking if I am okay?” 

There was a moment of silence before BT finally replied, “That would be correct.”

“Yes BT, I’m doing just fine. How is Cooper?”

“Pilot Cooper is well, I do believe he is concerned about your stay on his home planet however.”

“Pilot Thompson will ensure my safety, tell him he has nothing to worry about.”

“Understood.” With that the call ended. For a brief moment Brix recalled the time she had spent with BT in their line of duty, back when she was a titan. She was deployed on a separate mission when Cooper became BT’s pilot, but she was on the same radio frequency at the time. Hence, the reason she knew the late pilot Lastimosa had told Cooper he would be alright. Brix figured that BT had always suspected something of Brix right from the beginning of her...change. It’s not like she didn’t sometimes make it very clear that she knew things only the XI-1050 could know. Frankly, Brix enjoyed the missions she had with BT. Titans have definitive personalities to a limited extent, and she appreciated BT’s. Brix’s thoughts were suddenly taken by flashing on her HUD. It was the clock, it was midnight. She decided it was time for her to call it a day, and she closed her eyes. This time uninterrupted by the exclaiming of a certain Polish sausage. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Brix woke up to the sounds of hard rain and heavy winds. Her thoughts immediately went to the android she encountered yesterday, Connor. He must be confused, just as BT was when he first encountered Brix. As an investigative android it must have thrown him off to be shown empty data files. Not a name, place of residency, or even birth date. Even a vitals report tends to scare many, since Brix’s are lower than average. This is due to her body having less to keep running, because whatever was in her head did not need human blood, oxygen, or any source like that to keep it running. Suddenly, Brix heard shuffling by her door. She poked her head to the side and got up slowly. A paper was slowly being slid under the crack of her door.

“Brix when you wake up come into the main room, I have details for your mission :)”

Brix cracked open the door and looked out to see Thompson on his knees with his hand on the paper. 

“MacCready, I’m awake right now.” She said with a slight giggle.

Thompson stopped his motion of sliding the paper and continued to stare down at the crack under the door, “......Ah….”. He looked up at Brix and shot her a smile, “Good morning Brix!” He suddenly shot up, pulling the paper out from under the door. Brix followed him into the main room, “Okay so basically long story short, these androids can tell the difference between real and fake forms of identification, and if we are going to get you into that tower you’re going to have to have some form of an ID. Luckily your friendly neighborhood hackerman, which would be me, was able to create an ID for you, and register it into their databases. That really just leaves us with the issue of contacting the big boy in charge and scheduling to speak with him… or her… or them… I’m not really sure who is charge they’re pretty obscure… but anyway this will make things a lot easier.” He handed her the ID card.

“Where’d you get this photo of me?” Brix asked curiously, she wasn’t angry she wanted to know.

“Oh that, that was provided by commander Briggs. It was for me to recognize you if I saw you, but I figured why not use it for your card. Is it okay? I mean I can change it if you’d like, we can get you a new one.”

“Oh yes it’s perfect I was just wondering was all.”

“Great! So moving on I fou-” He was interrupted by a harsh knock at the door. Thompson slowly walked to the door and gazed through the peephole before quickly turning around and whispering, “It’s the guy from yesterday… and the android.” Thompson thought to himself for a moment, “Take anything suspicious and go out the back door, I’ll keep them distracted as long as I can. The cellar where I keep all of the gear and whatnot is a highlighted location within the data chips I gave you. Take it all there.” Brix nodded and got to work. 

There was harder knocking at the door, “DETROIT POLICE. OPEN THE DOOR.” When Brix had stepped out the back door, Thompson swung the front door open, “Gentlemen!” 

“You suspiciously vanished along with the injured woman last night on the street a few blocks from here,” the android opened. “If you don’t mind, we’d like to have a look around.”

“Sure go right ahead,” Thompson opened the door further and moved to the side to allow their passage through the doorway. 

Both men came in, inspected everything they saw. Occasionally, the android would pick up something and glance at it momentarily, assumingly analyzing it. As Thompson followed the lieutenant around and spoke with him, he didn’t notice when Connor made his way into the kitchen. There wasn’t much for Connor to see in there, but there was the backdoor, which did have something for him to see. Fingerprints. He analyzed the prints, no data on their owner presented. Even when no data is shown that’s enough information to assume that it might have originated from another particular source, which also has no data. As he stepped onto the outside porch he looked around the backyard, just grass. No furniture, no plants, just one hundred percent grass. Which is probably what made Brix’s footprint that much more obvious. Connor stepped out from under the porch and into the rain, scanning and following the path of footsteps. He became very confused when the tracks suddenly stopped right before the picket fence. The woman from earlier was injured, she couldn’t have possibly jumped this if it was her. Regardless, Connor hopped the fence in search of more answers. He followed them all the way to two cellar doors, aways away from the house no doubt, but close enough to be a reasonable escape hideout. He gently pushed down the doors and stepped down the stairs, turning on the lightswitch on his way down. He scanned the room, there were numerous bags scattered across the room. He peeked through a few of them, and many had things that his system did not recognize. However, one did have a gun, and when he heard movement in the room with him, he decided to take it. Cautiously, and with his LED flickering yellow, he looked around the room for whatever caused the noise. It was a fairly small room, and there was nowhere to really hide so whatever he saw is what was there. That was, until the top of a steel shelving unit gave out, dropping not only a few boxes, but Brix as well, right in front of Connor who had his gun pointing down at Brix within the matter of a second. Too taken by fear to react to the pain of the fall, Brix did nothing but stare at the gun aiming at her with terror. Until she realized that in this moment, the fifty percent chance of whoever had come into the cellar in search of her was in her favor. Not moving, she sent a message to Connor’s system, “Please… don’t.” Connor, who had received the message, faltered slightly as a result. “H-How… you can’t be a deviant. You were bleeding human blood last night.” Both were distracted by Thompson and the lieutenant suddenly rushing into the room. Simultaneously, both looked back at each other and Brix simply said, “Put the gun down and I will tell you everything.”


	11. Truth, the Whole Truth, Nothing but the Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The two duos have come to a standstill. One better speak up, or it could cost them dearly.

Connor looked towards lieutenant, who nodded as he was provoking Thompson to also explain. Connor slowly lowered the pistol, and Brix cautiously stood up. “Connor, I am just like you. There’s some differences but I run on an AI system just like you.”

“Impossible, I analyzed your wound and your vitals. You’re as human as they get.” Connor firmly stated.

Brix was silent for a moment, thinking carefully about what she was going to say next. “You analyzed my leg…” she said quietly to herself before repeating it, louder this time, “You analyzed my leg and took my vitals report. But that’s not what separates us from them,” she motioned to Thompson and the lieutenant. “It’s what’s up here…” she gently pointed to her head. She noted Connor’s expression, he understood what she meant but that doesn’t mean that he believed that she was what she claimed. She aimed her head down in thought before bringing it back up and firmly stating, “Analyze it… I’ve been analyzed before and they noted that there were some key noticeable differences there between humans and I. So you should be able to tell.”

Connor didn’t move for several seconds, he just stared at Brix. Until he suddenly turned and looked at lieutenant before bringing his gaze back to Brix, and again. He once even suddenly did a double take towards Thompson before looking back at Brix, likely to be extra sure of what he was seeing. He was comparing Brix’s analysis to the lieutenant’s, and he was definitely seeing differences. He looked off to the side momentarily before returning his glance to Brix, “ You are an AI...that’s how you sent the message...but how are you… you aren’t a product of Cyberlife.”

The lieutenant raised his eyebrows with his arms crossed, “Shiiiit now they even have the same blood as humans. Well if you aren’t from Cyberlife who did make you? I know as a fact Cyberlife wouldn’t make a model like you.”

Brix shot a glance towards Thompson, what was she supposed to say? “Oh don’t worry just some company trying to take over planets and galaxies made me, they’re from the other side of space, and so are we!”? No thanks, as if that would work. Thompson sprung into action, “Alright well we will tell you where she is from, that we will do but first I have to show you something. Trust me it’s going to make things a whole lot easier to understand.” Thompson walked over towards a bag cautiously, his hands slightly in the air to show he was not reaching for anything with the intention of bringing harm. He carefully pulled a cloaking device out of the bag, Brix could tell Connor was trying to analyze it and it was frustrating him that no data was showing up on it. Meanwhile the lieutenant was leaning against the wall, arms crossed, furrowing his brow at the foreign device. “Now I know you have questions about the other night. So let’s answer some of those before jumping into the big ‘Who are we’ question okay?” Thompson began to explain details about the device before arriving at the point of what it does. “You must be wondering how we got away yesterday night. One second, we are right next to you not only under your watch but the watch of several other Detroit Police personnel. The next, we’re gone. This is how.” Thompson pushed a small button on the device, and he was gone. Connor’s LED flashed red as his system tried to make sense of what just happened, and the lieutenant got off of the side of the wall and showed clear signs of a mix of confusion, curiosity, and what the hell? A couple of seconds later, Thompson reappeared right before them, “I hope that answers that question. As for her wound, easy.” He reached for a stimpak in the bag and slowly handed it to Connor. The stimpak was a lot less impressive in comparison to the cloaking device, but nevertheless it was still leaving the two speechless. “And uh… as for that gun you’re holding there Connor. It’s a smart pistol, auto locks onto any human type thing or ordinance device.” Connor turned his hand and looked down at the pistol before asking, “Who are you?” Thompson nodded, the question was bound to come around some time or another. Thompson didn’t necessarily know where to begin so he just started, “We… uh…”

“I have no information on either of you in my database. That’s impossible, even people off the grid have basic information registered in the system from which I get my information. You,” Connor pointed at Thompson. “You have a registered Detroit home and yet not even that shows up on your profile.”

“Look Connor… our… level of operation is... above your public information. Yes I know you even have general information on members of the FBI, but we are operatives of something a lot more classified than that and right now we’re sort of in a crisis. You see Brix here is not supposed to be… human. She had a chassis that was designed for her AI system and these… horrible people took her consciousness and shoved it into what you see here. We figured that since Cyberlife deals with AI and things of that sort, we figured they could help her. Connor if we don’t help her soon she will die, and yes. She will feel it.”

Connor analyzed their stress levels, and ,to his surprise, this was the absolute truth. Lieutenant, knowing Connor would have spoken up if they were lying, just nodded and turned around to make his way towards the exit, “Come on Connor. We got what we came for, the rest isn’t in our hands.” Connor didn’t move, his LED was flashing yellow and occasionally would turn red, his face radiated confliction. Before exiting the cellar the lieutenant stopped and turned around, noticing his partner was not following, “Connor!” Connor suddenly looked up at Brix, who was stressed by the reminder of her situation. “I can help you,” he started, “I’m a Cyberlife android, I know how you can get in and how to get you in touch with the head of the company.” Brix and Thompson were suddenly brought to full attention from their somber moods by Connor’s words. “You can what?” Thompson wanted to make sure what he heard was correct. “I can get you in. I’m their work, why wouldn’t they let me in,” Connor clarified. Brix and Thompson looked at each other momentarily, as if to confirm a mutual agreement before looking at Connor. “Tell us what we need to do,” Brix stated.


	12. A Beacon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Brix and Connor make their way to the Cyberlife tower, it all comes down to what happens within.

The plan was simple, really. Most of the work was in the hands of Connor, Brix just had to stand back until finally she’d be in the presence of someone who could help her. With the help of Connor’s data on the Cyberlife HQ, Brix and Thompson were able to pin down a head official that they could get in touch with a lot faster than they would have been able to alone. Brix offered Thompson to come along, but he declined stating that he would keep watch through their hacked surveillance feed while he tended to other matters. So that’s why Brix was here now, sitting in a Detroit taxi along with Connor. Brix could see the Cyberlife tower at the end of the long strip of bridge, it’s lights made it appear like a beacon in the night sky. The heavy rain was making Brix uneasy, rain never really bothered her but, tonight. Tonight it seemed like it was getting ready to unveil a larger storm. Nevertheless, Brix stayed silent and kept a collected visage. Connor was, as usual, displaying poise and formality amidst the prelude of an event that had the potential to make or break the living consciousness of another being. They hadn’t spoken the entire taxi way towards the tower, they had nothing to say. As they approached the gate that marked the halfway point of the bridge, the taxi window on Connor’s side rolled down, and a gate guard approached the taxi. After a brief exchange pertaining to their reason for coming, as well as an identification check, the guard allowed them to pass and the wall came down. As they got closer and closer to the tower Brix started to become increasingly anxious. She subconsciously began to flick her right index finger with her thumb, a remnant from her titan days in which she would fidget with the disengage switch of her tether trap. 

As they came to the entrance of the tower the taxi pulled over and its door opened, Connor got out immediately but Brix sat back for a moment as she began to have her doubts. Connor reassured her and they headed towards the doors, in which an escort party of Cyberlife guards was waiting for them. The building was impeccably large, and its core design was a clean silver and white theme. The way they treated machines here on Earth intrigued Brix and somewhat offended her. They expected machines to do as they say, and marketed them as just another product on the shelf. Back on Harmony and anywhere with titans for that matter, none treated titans as simply just machines. There was a bond between the pilot and the titan, and that was made the team work. Sure, titans and their pilots have the bond of the objective to survive through missions and that likely helped pilots learn to trust their “machines”, but on Earth all they did was demand a service while simultaneously degrading it. 

The duo and their escort party passed through several more identification checks before actually making any progress through the building. Connor had warned Brix and Thompson about these, and Thompson had no problem entering Brix into a database that would enable her to be cleared. As they approached an elevator, a couple of the guards broke off from the group. Leaving only two with Connor and Brix. In the elevator Brix was starting to become tense, the guards had a looming and threatening presence despite them simply standing still. There was something about these guards that she just couldn’t shake. Brix glanced through the elevator glass, they were already incredibly high above the ground floor and yet they still had a long way to go. Brix was impressed by how long Connor was able to remain silent and still, in fact she was almost scared by it. The silence within the elevator was deafening and it was making Brix restless, but she managed to keep herself under control by loading a chip and silently watch it load onto her HUD. It was a little game Thompson had loaded onto one of the chips he had given her, and she found it to be quite entertaining. A cute little t-rex jumping over cacti was keeping her busy, and was largely the best form of entertainment she had ever experienced considering they don’t load games into the databanks of the titans. 

Brix was taken from her trance when a loud beeping noise suddenly broke out within the elevator. She glanced up at the panel which showed “A-PS”, she wasn’t sure what floor they were on relative to the ground but it was definitely very high. The elevator doors opened, revealing a long stretch of hallway leading to another set of doors. The guards quickly prompted Connor and Brix to begin heading down the hallway, following behind within a distance that attributed reaching the two outsiders in a split second if need be. They stopped just outside of the final set of doors, one guard stepping up to a panel on the wall and inserting different sets of information. Brix couldn’t see exactly what it was, but it was likely another identification clearance. After a minute or two the doors opened, revealing a large room that was connected to another through a small amount of stairs. The rooms in their entirety stuck to the rest of the tower’s theme of white and silver. However, the furniture of the lower half seemed exempt from this common design. Across the bottom portion of the room were red tufted chairs, a contemporary designed coffee table, as well as a red tufted sofa. These all rested atop a shaggy black rug, making the bottom half very welcoming in a formal manner. From this lower room one could easily gaze outside the black window that offered an incredible view of the city of Detroit. The upper half couldn’t plea the same feeling, however. As Brix looked through the panes of glass that acted as the wall for the upper half of the room , it presented much more of a meeting room, strictly business type of style in contrast to its lower counterpart. The only significant entities in it being a long white table accompanied by white chairs. As well as one living entity, Brix supposed this was who they came here for. A woman dressed in white attire, entirely calm, with jet black hair. 

“Welcome. I trust that you are in need of my assistance.”


	13. Skyfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is where it all ends.

Brix stepped forward, momentarily back glancing towards Connor. He was standing in the corner, the guards on both sides of him. As Brix walked closer the woman put on a faint smile, a clear sign of desired further inquiry. Brix brought herself to a stop and took a deep breathe in, her words now could mean life or death. She looked up and made direct eye contact with the woman, “My name is Brix Davidson. I was a … machine… under the ownership of late Benedict Davidson. Certain circumstances have lead to me becoming what is essentially a human with a very unstable intelligence system instead of a brain. I need to be put back into a proper chassis that is capable of handling my AI system or I will die.” 

The woman appeared to ponder this revelation momentarily before looking up towards Brix. “I see. I do believe we can help you Miss Davidson. Come with me, RK800 remain where you are.” Brix followed the woman up the steps into the meeting room, where she opened a drawer in the table. From it she pulled put a silver tray which contained several tools as well as a few syringes, one filled with a clear liquid. There were several other items in the drawer, but Brix could not see enough to make them out from her view. Brix’s system had no clear result on what the liquid was, but she was counting on the woman to explain. She watched carefully as the woman slipped on a pair of blue rubber gloves and proceeded to pick up and flick the syringe. “Alright Miss Davidson, this is will simply disable your titan systems. I’m not talking about your AI system I just mean the extras like infrared, your HUD, voice analysis, and whatnot. We just need to disable them for safety reasons. Just as you’d need to unplug a computer from the outlet before moving it. It will only be a few minutes before they go offline.” Brix gave a nod of understanding, removed her jacket, and rolled up one of her sleeves. There was no doubt that Brix was nervous, she even began having second thoughts as the woman pushed on the syringe injector. Brix didn’t let these get to her head though, she understood that she had no choice but to go back if she wanted to live… even if it wasn’t truly living. Once the needle was removed, Brix noticed her HUD started to flicker and she began to feel sick to her stomach. 

“Take a moment if you need, I understand it can be… disorienting… to have some functions shut down suddenly.” The woman spoke plainly as Brix had to steady herself using the table. She was becoming incredibly dizzy and her vision was doubling. 

Audio Recognition… 

Offline

Infrared…

Offline

Communication… 

Offline

Th-... Her HUD failed, leaving only an occasional flicker until nothing was left. Brix looked around, her scanning software had gone offline as well. When the doctors back on Harmony gave Brix the medicine, it was only an inhibitor. Whatever Brix had been given now was fully disabling her functions, and it was wreaking havoc on her system. When Brix was able to stabilize herself without the assistance of the table the woman picked up another syringe, filled with a light blue liquid. Brix could tell the woman was speaking to her, but she just couldn’t make out what she was saying. A terrible, pulsing headache was distracting Brix and it drew her attention from everything around her. However, just as quick as it came, it was gone. 

Brix was about to ask the woman for another explanation before an impeccably loud noise came from bottom sector of the room. As Brix turned her head she found that the outer glass had been shattered. The two guards went to check it out while Connor, Brix, and the woman remained where they were. As they leaned over to check for the source of the breakage, their expressions were serious with a hint of confusion. Even Connor was leaning back slightly from his position to see if he could spot the source, but his LED was evidence enough to show that not even he could see anything. All of a sudden, both guards were flung forward through the window. An audible gasp escaped all three witnesses, they knew that at the height above ground that they were those men would not survive the fall. All were paralyzed with shock as the sounds of screams becoming more and more distant echoed throughout the room. 

“You fucking IMC piece of shit.” The disembodied voice was soon associated to a person when Thompson suddenly appeared before Brix with gun pointing directly at the woman. Brix was at a loss for words, she had no clue as to what was happening but nevertheless she managed to get one word out, “MacCready?”. Considering a gun was aimed right at her, the woman was calm in the face of possible death. “It took you awhile to find me. However, I am rather pleased for the help in delivering our little subject here for continued experimentation,” the woman said coldly, glancing at Brix. Perhaps she was too struck by nervousness at the time, but Brix had just realized her mistake. She completely glanced over the moment the woman had said, “titan systems”. Brix had never mentioned a word about titans, she kept her description as vague as possible to avoid that word. She had unknowingly placed her trust in someone from the IMC, and now her bloodstream was carrying an unknown material. For all she knew, it could kill her. 

“I should have killed you back on Mauroe. I could have spared her life from being torn apart and put back together,” MacCready’s voice was harsher than Brix thought he was capable of. 

“But you didn’t. Too overcome with grief, and for what? Your pilot? That’s what makes you weak.”

The woman continued talking, but Brix lingered on what she had just said. No. That couldn’t be possible. He had a pilot’s helmet. If he were like her, he wouldn’t have needed one. Without even thinking about what she was going to say Brix spoke up, “What do you mean ‘his pilot’?” The woman glanced at Thompson with surprise, “Oh? She doesn’t know?” The woman laughed before explaining, “This ‘MacCready Thompson’? All a mask, just like you. He was our first subject, obviously less of a success. We weren’t able to bring any extra functions along with his consciousness unfortunately, but I guess that just makes him more human than you Ms. Davidson.” Brix was speechless, this had to be a lie but everything she has come to known said otherwise. She remembered the titan docks on the base, there were two docks that were empty. One for Brix and one for… no there had to be another explanation. She remembered Commander Briggs, she thought it was too easy to convince her. Anyone would have easily called Brix’s story an obvious lie, but Briggs didn’t… almost if she had seen this before. Surely it must have been just because Brix had evidence though? Brix was doing everything to try and disprove this claim, Thompson would have said something if it were true, right? If he was the same as her, why wasn’t he trying to be fixed himself? Was he not afraid to die? Her mind was scrambling to look for a straightforward answer, but then she remembered. Connor. He stopped to look at him while he was analyzing and comparing Hank’s mind to Brix’s. It wasn’t because he wanted to have another source of comparison, it was because he saw in him what he saw in Brix. 

He must have assumed she already knew. Brix’s face was starting to become hot, and her eyes watered. She couldn’t deny it, it was true, but one thing still didn’t make sense, “Why didn’t you find help for yourself?” Brix could see the gun Thompson was aiming shaking, he was shaking. Whether it was a result of fear, or anger she had no idea. The woman looked at Thompson curiously and spoke plainly, “Since we weren’t able to transfer the extra functionalities over, his system is not bound to overload in a human body.” Brix was holding back certain tears, he didn’t love her. He _sympathized_ with her. 

Pounding was suddenly heard at the doors, it was security. Likely coming in after discovering the other two guards dead. The woman took the opportunity of the distraction to pull out a gun from the table drawer. She fired it, but fortunately for Thompson it just barely missed him. After that, he did not hesitate to pull his trigger on the woman. Crimson splattered across the chest of her white outfit, its center finding itself just through the heart. She fell to the ground, saying nothing more as her life faded away. Thompson lowered his gun and gazed down at his work. He completed his mission. He avenged his pilot. However his victory did not come without sacrifice, and his thunder was interrupted by the sound of hasteful footsteps. It was Connor running towards them. Running towards Brix. Thompson turned around. Her mouth was open with fear as she looked down at her hands, they were blanketed in blood. Her blood. The woman didn’t miss Thompson, she was aiming for Brix, and she hit exactly where she needed to.

[](https://www.flickr.com/gp/166390624@N04/32E0R2)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Artwork by Enixia <3


	14. After the Storm

“It’s gonna be okay, it’s gonna be okay, Brix can you hear me!?” MacCready rushed to Brix and rested her head on his lap, he then quickly tossed his helmet aside. He had no stimpaks this time. Connor watched from where he was, he was just as terrified as MacCready. A small amount of blood began to drip from Brix’s mouth, and the blood from the bullet wound was creating a pool beneath her. She gently looked towards MacCready, “MacCready I-.... I….”

“What is it Brix? You what?” His eyes began to water.

“I failed to uphold the mission.” MacCready was devastated by this sentence. He knew what was happening. As a titan dies, its system breaks down until there is nothing left but the fundamentals of the program. The protocols. 

“Brix… no…. please…”

“Pilot… I failed…,” Brix’s eyes slowly drifted away from MacCready and onto the nothingness before her. “Protocol tw-....” 

Tears were streaming MacCready’s face, “BRIX! PLEASE NO! BRIX….” He rested his head against her and sobbed. “Brix…”. Connor didn’t know what to do. His LED flashed bright red as his system tried to find some, any solution. But there was nothing, not this time. 

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

It had been a day. Brix’s body was already on its way back to Harmony for a proper ceremony. MacCready was devastated, and angry. He walked into his house, some of Brix’s belongings were still in the home. He threw down his helmet and harshly sat down on his couch. So much was going through his head, despair, rage, confusion, that was until he heard something hit the floor. He looked down, it was a small data chip, he guessed it must have fallen out of his helmet. He picked it up, in black ink it read “LOVE, BRIX” written in tiny letters across it. He sat up and immediately went to extract the data on his laptop. When the data began to read, hundreds of words and code began to show across his screen. After reading one line of it, his jaw dropped. He suddenly reached for his helmet. 

Contact > Commander Briggs > Call

 

…

 

…

 

“Commander Briggs... it’s Pilot Thompson, it’s an emergency.”


	15. Loading...

Loading…

***HAMMOND ROBOTICS FRONTLINER CLASS DETECTED***

Validating Input Credentials…  
CONFIRMED. Code: XI-1050 RAS 6995 Accepted.

Backing up /core/mem/weapons  
Backing up /core/mem/memories  
Backing up /core/mem/behavior  
Backing up /core/mem/protocols

Cl_reboot -soft -restore -remote

Mnt /ext /datachip /1.00  
Restore: Information  
Verify: dc469mk  
***VERIFIED HAMMOND ROBOTICS FRONTLINER CLASS***

Initializing…

 

…

 

…

 

…

 

 

Northstar AI XI-1050 online. Ready to link to pilot.


End file.
